Black Bean Burger with Guacamole & Salsa

Black bean burgers, topped with guacamole and homemade salsa, wrapped in a warmed tortilla. Another fabulous recipe from Myra Kornfeld's excellent cookbook, The Healthy Hedonist.

These spicy black bean burgers were crumbly in texture, rather like a Mexican falafel. This was mostly due to the fact that they include ground pumpkin seeds. Although I skipped Kornfeld's green pepper-avocado sauce in favor of my own guacamole and salsa, these definitely had that gourmet taste. Love having them with a tortilla rather than a bun! I served them with julienned jicama with lime and salt.

You'll want to plan ahead a little with these burgers as the patties need to spend some time in the fridge firming up.

Black Bean Burgers (adapted from The Healthy Hedonist.)

1/2 cup roasted pumpkin seeds, finely ground
2-4 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 chipolte chile in adobe sauce, minced
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
15 oz tin of black beans, rinsed and drained (save the liquid for this recipe)
2/3 cup bean liquid or water
3/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs

Heat 1-2 tbsp olive oil in a non-stick skillet and cook the onion gently until softened (about 8 minutes). Add the garlic, chile, cumin, and oregano and cook for 1-2 additional minutes. Add 1/3 of the beans and liquid to the onion mixture and mash the beans into the mixture with a potato masher. Add another 1/3 and repeat. Add another 1/3 and repeat. Cook the bean mixture until all the liquid has cooked away (but don't overcook or the beans will get flaky). Remove the bean mixture to a bowl and allow it to cool for around 15 minutes.

When cool, mix in the ground pumpkin seeds and 1/4 cup of bread crumbs. Spread the remaining breadcrumbs on a board. Divide the bean mixture into four equal amounts. The mixture will be too sticky to work with your hands so use a couple of big spoons. Take 1/4 of the bean mixture and drop it into the breadcrumbs. Use the spoons to flatten and shape the patty, sprinkling breadcrumbs on all sides. Once the patty is covered with breadcrumbs, use your hands to finish shaping the patty. Place patties on a plate and refridgerate for 1 hour.

Heat 1-2 tbsp olive oil in the cleaned skillet until very hot, but not smoking. Cook the patties for 3-4 minutes on each side. Serve on a warmed tortilla with guacamole, salsa, sour cream, and shredded lettuce.